Why I Refuse to Use AdSense and You Should Too

When you’re first starting out blogging, youtubing, or any other social media that you’d like to make money off of.. what’s one of the first ad programs that comes to mind? Google’s Adsense. Why? Because, well, it’s google and they’re pretty popular, and chances are you’ve heard of people earning an income off their program before.

So what? I’m really trying to make some money while talking about things I love.

SAME.

So what’s the problem?

Have you gotten paid? Chances are some people have! YES. And others? Personal blogs, business websites, youtube videos…. etc, etc. Has everyone gotten paid by Google?

Then suddenly these amounts started coming out of my card account, attached straight to my bank, not a credit card, so money was limited.

Of course I was young and knew exactly how much I had where and what was left over after bills and groceries, etc. Except when I took my young child to the store for our weekly grocery shopping and couldn’t get him food.
(Tell me as a parent that isn’t one of your worst nightmares, not being able to feed your children. Especially when you SHOULD be able to…)

So obviously instantly I called a friend to help me out and thankfully she did. We always help out with each other and especially the kids. The kids matter most and them being fed and clothed and… etc. is crazy important to us parents, right.

Anyways my next move was to check my account. And there I was, a few months late at noticing that money was coming out of my account. A little $20 to start. Which gradually increased every month. Where was it going? I hadn’t signed up for any recurring payments for anything online and it clearly said Google.

So on to calling the 1800 number attached to each payment on my account. Funny thing, as huge of a company as Google is… it wasn’t even a real, talk to human beings, number. Because one thing that massive companies that want your money do, is make it COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE for you to get in touch with ANYONE in their company let alone admit they’re wrong.

So then the call goes to my bank whom tries to get in contact with someone from the company. Asking if I’d signed up for something. And, ya know, Google might have gotten away with it (THANKFULLY they didn’t) if they maybe just had some sort of customer service. So my poor bank, (My AMAZING BANK) helped me by giving SOME of the money to me but they couldn’t do each one for the whole, by this time, six months it’d been going on.

They did find out who it was though. It was Google. They tracked the money going to the company and couldn’t ever figure out ‘why’ or ‘what for’..
Great company, right? (This sentence is completely laced with sarcasm)

Low and behold I’m starting my own blog, I know that Google takes just about anyone to put their googly ads on their site/vids.. etc.

So, I need to earn a little bit of course while I’m starting out.
Lots of people use it. Let’s give it a try.

So, I apply and am accepted into the program. Easy. I set up the ads on my site, probably about 3 ads per page because I think it’s crazy when pages have massive amount of ads that make it impossible to even pay attention to what the writer is writing about.

Great. So it’s slow at first because I barely have an audience. Then my audience picks up, my views increase daily and hello yea! Some of my ads are even being clicked.

YAY.

Slowly my Adsense balance increases and within a few weeks I’ve already gotten more than enough to get a payment, verified my address, and planned to get the couple hundred they owe me.

But then my balance starts going down. Some reason or another. Someone thinks it wasn’t valid clicks. (I don’t know, I wasn’t the one clicking and I honestly doubt people would just go click ads because that’s a ‘fun’ thing to do or something… HA. HA.) Whatever google. Just pay me, please.
Payment info set up. Tax info set up.

Payment should be on its way next month. By the way, they don’t pay you instantly.

So my balance continues to go down. (WTF??) Reason? Well they’ll send you an entire page of FAQ’s that will take you hours and hours to read but they’ll never give you an actual reason.

BUT Still having enough to get a payment.

Then suddenly one day I log into my adsense account and it won’t let me log in. What? I log in almost daily, I KNOW my password is right. ok? Check GMAIL: hosted by google… (ironic)…

AdSense sent me an email letting me know my account is invalid and sending me back to that FAQ page. Why is it invalid? Don’t know. I went through ALL of the FAQ’s and none applied to me.

They give you the chance to appeal. (They don’t actually come right out and tell you this, by the way, it took my research to find out that I could and how.)

So, of course I did. After all, they owed me money and I hadn’t done anything wrong according to the FAQ.

So, I appealed.

Almost instantly after submitting my appeal, adsense sent another email saying they were so glad I was still interested in working with them. However, my appeal is denied.

So, me being one for researching, I researched, and researched and it honestly wasn’t hard to find and talk to blogger after blogger after business owner who had previously went through the SAME THING with Google’s Adsense.

There have even been people whom have taken google to court for it. And WON! Why? Because Adsense doesn’t actually have a ‘reason’ to cancel your account. (Literally, no reason besides not paying you…) And even their representatives in court couldn’t give an actual reason.

So, This is why I DO NOT recommend using AdSense, in any way at all.

Granted, yes, people have used it and gotten paid and been fine. However I’ve also heard that once people start making larger amounts of money or have a huge payment owed to them, Adsense has done the same thing.

Quick question: What do you do with a company that screws you over then wants you to apply back with them? (Rhetorical question on my end. HA)

So my advice is, do your own research. Make your own decisions. Just be careful.

& There are many many more companies you can grab ads from for your advertising and income purposes.

Has anything like this ever happened to you with adsnese or any other company? Let me know, I’d love to hear your story.

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Miss Lyss

I'm a single mother. I am a homeschooling mother. I take classes myself. I cook, I clean, I dance, I run around, I sing crazy songs (only in front of my kids ;) ), I write, I travel, I craft, I love! There are so many things that moms and us women do! Come on this journey through life with me.

Look into it. I’m not one to say absolutely don’t do anything just because experiences are different for everyone. Let me get some resources to you about what I’m using now and how it’s helping me! 🙂 I haven’t written about it yet but I’ll definitely send you something 🙂